Railway drawbar



Aprill 24. 1928.

H. E. VAN DORN RAILWAY DRAWBAR Filed Feb.16, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. E.VAN DORN April 24. 1928.

RAILWAY DRAWBAR Filed F`b.16. 1927 Wu E Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

' HEBBEME. VAN .Dom er LCHCAQQ, iLLiiiOlS,

www DRAWeAIi 1e present invention relates to draft rigging" forrailivgiiy l oi the types` n'yvh'ioh thel coupler headris permitted "to"oseillate about Vva, lopgitudiiialaxis,2 or lthe toupler head` adapted'(tio swing rin a horizoiital plane about" a remotecenteiyor thedrawbarshank or sin'iil'arbart-is' adapted toslide longitudinallyy throughsuitable carrier, orany combinaty n' off'sueh types; and objeot is to,simplifyanil'ini prove the eo rust-ion thereof?V In my prioi" BatentvNumber LQALQTRQ, granted 3; l have disclosed a drawhaiyjoilistruct-ionembodying all of the ltetures,of the several types enumeratedy above'andi vieived iii `a specific `espejot',the present invention maybeysaid* toliave for its` objeetto in'iprcwe onl that const-ruotion- Thevariousffeatures of :noveltyi'whereby my invention is ehara'oteriedWill-`herein` after pointed oiitivvith particuilai'ity in the Yclaims;but, for a full understanding of myinvention and of its objeets andadvantages, reference may be had `to, the followingdetailedt deseriptiontaken in oon-k n'eotion with theiaccoinpanying drawings, wherein: *f *rvw y Figurel is a longitudinal seotiontrhrough a drawbar' and supportVeriibo'dying thepresent invention, onllyvso much "of theV old'structure shoivn vis needed to yillustrate the invent-ion;` F 2 isha'section on line 1; Figi 3 is a detail' shoviing modifiation; Fig.t'iis'a `front `elevatim;"on a larger seele, of. ythe 'main' bar orstrut; and isafsectionI on line g vReferring tothe preferred embodimentof my invention illustrated thedrai'vings7` l represents along strut'Vor bartheibody" portion of Whieh is inclined upwardly and* rear` Wardly;the rear 4`end"`being adaptedr to he connected to a car frame by beingpivote'd to a Suitable spring gear, not shown, as in my prior patentorotherwise. .The front end of the member l taken .the form of a housing2 open at the front and rear ends and having a Cylindrical interior. Thepart 2 extends through a Carrier consisting of an inverted U-shapedmember 3 between the lower ends of Whose arms is secured a shoe 4,preferably by means of two bolts 5 passing through .the same and throughthe arms of the carrier. When there is, a spring connection. between thedrawbar and the ear through the: "earrier,r ivear occurs -ony the yshoe4, `or the 2 oxr'both.y Tocompensateiifor this Wear and make itunne'ce'l to reir plaee'eitherbeoause'of wear, Iset re the undersideof'thehousing 2a wearing plate Gand or to the topiof the shoe a Wearing tPi y a in plate i, the plate or plates vbeing detachable tofpermitreplaeemeits tobe'ea'sily made. 'lheearr'ierhasta Tslot 8 running acrossthe top oit" the same onan are 'struck about the i pivotal oonneeti'onof the "idravjbar `with the .ear as "meenten `^The earrier' isilslidably supported on afflateurv'ed bar`f9 rextendiiig throiI fhfthehorizontal portionof'tleiislt in i turns hung' from theyl'indersideg'ofithe yoar by meanjs^"of f bolts 10 passing i throughsuit-l able"l spacing ybfusliings"y or' sleeves'll'; This arrangementpermits the' 'draivbar" to swing frame, permittiirgr the draivbar 'toslide passing 'pin through registering *holes 13u intx'vo ears locatedatx'the ifront end of the ste/mon opposite sidesrk ofthe vl'bngitwvdinal axis; `The stem comprises a cylindrioalpart l5 fitting in'tofthehousingQl` The stemis enlargediat` th'effrontend 1t'o form an abruptIshoulder 16 adapted tobear againsty a `maohined face at"4 the irontfend of the hoiising. The rear en/dl'of "the housing'-7 also;is.Inaehined. Therear end of` the "stemftery minatesin a sereW-threaded"element `:17 on Whichlisal nut" between Whicldiand the rear endf ofthehousirigusfa` Washer 19.' It x ill housing 1n lsuch 'a A'manner tha tit' mayV turn therein, but is `securely held against if y otherAmovement of any" kind relative" to vthe housing i v lVhile the stem forlsupporting the coupler head may turn, yet the eouplerhead shouldnormally be horizontal and upon unooupling should be returned to thatposition if not already there. To this end I have provided a noveldevice that yieldingly holds the stem Iin such a position that thepivot-al axis of the coupler headis horizont-al, thus causing thecoupler head to be held normally in a horizontal position. This deviceconsists o f a normal position are frame-like casting 2O situatedbetweenears 21 and22 on the underside of the front end of the housing;the width of the casting being considerably less than the distance' beVtween such ears. A bolt 23 passes through the ears and the interveningcasting. There are on the bolt two followers 24. in the form of sleevesextending through the side members o't' the trame and abutting at theirouter ends against the ears 21 and 22, respectively. The sleeves haveflanges 25 at their inner ends. Surrounding the bolt 23, between thesleeves, is a spring 26 under an initial compression. This spring tendsconstantly to press the followersapart and hold them in contact with theears on the draw bar. The followers, acting on the Ytramelike castingthrough their flanges, therefore tend to hold this member centered andto return it to a central position whenever it is displaced laterally ineither direction. The casting 2() has at-fits front end two separatedlugs 27 lying on opposite sides ot the longitudinal axis of thestructure and, lying between these lugs is an ear 28 fixed to a formingpart ot the stem 12. III-hen the stem turns in either direction, the ear28 engages with one of the lugs on the frame-like casting and pushesthis casting sidewise against the resistance of the spring. Then theforces that hold the stem twisted out ot its removed the spring pushesthe frame back into its normal central position, one ot the lugs actingon the ear on the stem to turn the stem back to its normal position.

The stem 'l2 will usually be a casting and it may therefore happen thatthe screw threaded part 17 will not be sufiiciently sound to serve itspurpose, even though the item be otherwise satisfactory. have thereforeshown in Figure a means tor securing the stem into the drawbar by meansot an added stud. This stud, indicated at 30, is screwed into a socket31 in the rear end of the stem, and is anchored by means ot a. pinpassing through the same and through the stein. The nut and washer, 1Sand 19, are placed on this stud just as, in Fig. l, they are positionedon the screwthreadedprojection 17 .integral with the stem.

IVhile with particularity only I have illustrated and described a singlepreferred Jform of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to theexact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend tocover all` forms and arrangements which come within the definitions ofmy invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In combination, a drawbar having at its front end a housing providedwith a longitudinal bore extending through `the same, a cylindrical stemfitted in said bore so as to be rotatable therein, means at the frontend of the stem for supporting a coupler head., a shoulder onthe stemengaged with the 'front end of the housing, a stud screwed into theArear end of the stem, a pin extending transversely through the stem andstud, and a nut on the stud bearing against the rear end ot the housing.Y

2. In combination, a drawbar, a stem extending into and rotatable in thefront end of the drawbar, two abutmentson the underside of the front endoit the drawbar ony opposite sides ot the longitudinal center, a membermounted between said abutments and movable laterally a limited distancebetween the same, a. spring means tending constantly to hold saidmembercentered, and there being an interlock between said member and said stemto canse oscillatory movements ot' said stem to be accompanied byreciprocating movements ot said member.

In combination, a. drawbar, a stem cxtending into and rotatable in thefront end oi" the drawbar, two abutments on the underside of the frontend oit the drawbar on opposite sides ot the longitudinal center, a'trame-like member narrower than the .distance between said abutmentslying between the latter, a bolt passing through saidy abutments andthrough the iframe so as to cross the opening in the trame, flangedsleeves surrounding the bolt and each passing through one ot the sidekelements o'l' the trame and en gaged with the corresponding abutment, acompression spring between said sleeves, and shoulders on the Jframe andthe stem to cause an oscillatory movement of saidk stemto be accompaniedby a reciprocatory movement of said trame,

In testimony whereof, I sign ,thisspecitication.

HERBERT n. van noaa'.

